Home UVA Football: Who let Kam Robinson (torn ACL) go back out in the Duke game?
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UVA Football: Who let Kam Robinson (torn ACL) go back out in the Duke game?

Chris Graham
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uva football kam robinson
UVA Football linebacker Kam Robinson. Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP

Ugh, bad news, awful news – the worst news – involving Kam Robinson, who we were all hyping as an ACC Player of the Year candidate a couple of weeks ago.

Turns out, Robinson, who limped off the field twice in the 34-17 win over Duke on Nov. 15, had torn his ACL, UVA Football coach Tony Elliott told reporters at his weekly presser on Tuesday.



“Going to have surgery here, so he’ll be done for the rest of the season,” Elliott said.

Yes, obviously.

Robinson left the Duke game after the second snap with something involving the knee, was looked at in the locker room, then allowed to return.

After the Duke game, Elliott told reporters that Robinson underwent a scan and X-rays, and the assessment was, “everything was clean, thought it was maybe a bruise to maybe the nerve,” so Robinson was given the option to go back out for the second half.

uva football kam robinson
UVA Football linebacker Kam Robinson. Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP

One play, and Robinson limped badly off the field.

It wasn’t a bruise, wasn’t a nerve issue.

An ACL means not only obviously the end of the 2025 season, but no spring, maybe no training camp, maybe no next season.

The recovery time for an ACL injury runs anywhere from six months to a year, depending on the severity of the damage.

Damn.

Somebody on the medical and training staff effed up big time with this, letting Robinson go back out there with what was already a torn ACL, or a weakened knee that then led to an ACL injury.

Seriously, heads should roll.

Robinson only got eight games this season – he missed the first three games after surgery for a broken collarbone suffered in training camp.

uva football kam robinson tackle
UVA Football linebacker Kam Robinson. Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP

In his eight games in 2025, Robinson recorded 64 tackles, which still, at the moment, ranks second on the team, with two picksixes, a safety that provided the game-winning points in the Washington State game last month, a blocked punt, three sacks and nine total QB pressures, and a partridge in a pear tree.

“Really grateful for all that he did to help the team get to this point, and I’m sure that the guys are going to rally around him and support him in his recovery. It’s an unfortunate situation. of the game of football,” Elliott said.

Next man up, per Elliott, is the duo of Landon Danley (35 tackles) and Maddox Marcellus (33 tackles, two sacks, nine QB pressures).

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Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].